Abstract: The "digital earth" has been well known by the academic circles all over the world. It is now considered to be important for mankind by the officials, researchers and industiral personnel. An enthusiasm is given to it by many academic societies, some international symposiums have been organized, and a great number of papers about it have been published. The concept, significance, characteristies, key technologies, and prospective application of the "Digital Earth" are discussed in this paper, which is the beginning for the people to enter the spatial information age. It is pointed out that the base of the "digital earth" includes the information express way and the national spatial data facilites, which will be carried out by all the parts of the country. Meanwhile, by analyzing the local conditions of Xinjiang, a province in northwest China, it is considered that it is important to build a "digital Xinjiang".
To build the "digital Xinjiang" is beneficial for the improvement of the local ecological environment, the sustainable development, speeding up the information industrialization, being as a new economic growth industry, the social progress, etc. as well as to the state's security and social stability. It is emphasized that, at present, the most important thing is to regard the "digitalization of Xinjiang" as a long-term strategy of the development and to handle it as a policy of science and technology so as to accelerate the development of the industries correlated with it. It is suggested to speed up the construction of the spatial data facilities and the information express, enhance the quality, and promote the application of the "digitalization of Xinjiang".

Key words: digital earth, digital Xinjiang, spatial data facility